


The God Welcomes Visitors from Another World

by thatsrightdollface



Category: Kamisama Hajimemashita | Kamisama Kiss, かくりよの宿飯 | Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi | Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits (Anime)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Pen Pals, baking gone wrong, centipedes, spoilers for both Kamisama Kiss and Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 10:33:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23969890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsrightdollface/pseuds/thatsrightdollface
Summary: Nanami Momozono’s pen pal, Aoi Tsubaki, is finally coming to visit Mikage Shrine!
Relationships: (Nanami is the narrator and she isn't sure), Ginji/Tsubaki Aoi, Mizuki & Momozono Nanami, Momozono Nanami & Tsubaki Aoi, Momozono Nanami/Tomoe, Oodanna/Tsubaki Aoi, and ALSO possible, possible - Relationship
Comments: 10
Kudos: 37





	The God Welcomes Visitors from Another World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fox_Maiden](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Fox_Maiden).



> Hi!!! I hope you enjoy this fic, if you read it. :D This is kinda silly, but I did have a lot of fun writing it -- I apologize for anything I might've gotten wrong. Special thanks to Fox_Maiden, who suggested Aoi and Nanami could get a chance to hang out in the comments of another fic!!! I meant to write something kinda like this ages ago -- and actually, I STARTED this ages ago... I'm really sorry it took me so long!!! @_@ 
> 
> I hope you've been staying safe and having a fantastic day~ Thank you!!!

Well, today was the day. 

Nanami Monozono’d had friends come to stay over from different cities before, mind you — mostly when she was young, and her mom’s old classmates sometimes brought other kids by for her to play with. She knew the usual deal: think of fun stuff to do, buy tickets in advance, make sure you had a lot of extra blankets waiting in convenient spots just in case your guests got cold. You know. 

Since becoming resident Land Goddess of Mikage Shrine, Nanami had entertained for various yokai and godly types, too. She, the shrine spirits and her very first Shinshi Tomoe the former wild fox had opened up their home (some more reluctantly than others) for Mizuki the snake! Sometimes Himemiko of the Swamp came to sleep over at the shrine, too, which was always a lot of fun even if Tomoe didn’t wanna get in on fish spirit magazine quizzes and comedy movie nights the same way Mizuki did. His loss.

These next couple days felt like a Pretty Big Deal, though. Mikage Shrine was gonna have a bunch of interesting visitors, and so far as Nanami was concerned it just really, completely, one-thousand-percent had to go well. What would the odds have to even be for Tomoe to somehow conveniently have _another_ old work-acquaintance/former fox Shinshi contact who _just so happened_ to know a nice human woman a little older than Nanami currently working with yokai and mysterious gods all the time?! Nanami had been pen pals with Aoi Tsubaki for months, now, and it’d taken a lot of serious scheming to get this visit arranged. 

Aoi was, uh... how to say it. Super ridiculously in debt to an Ogre-God Master Innkeeper person in the spirit realm, thanks to her over-the-top wildcard of a grandfather. She kinda had to work off the debt at his inn, Tenjin-ya, or marry the guy. See?! Where else could Nanami possibly find a friend who understood her as well as Aoi Tsubaki? And after her father gambled away their apartment, too... mm. Nanami and Aoi both knew something about debt, and something about juggling the whims of sensitive, powerful spirits, and something about the _Beverly High School Diaries_ light novel series. This friendship was meant to be. Nanami had politely requested that everything in Mikage Shrine be perfect for Aoi’s visit, so she and everybody coming along with her felt completely welcome and at home. 

Which, logically, meant that by the time Aoi, Tomoe’s old work buddy Ginji the Kitsune and that infamous Master Innkeeper himself arrived at Nanami’s door, the kitchen was just a little bit on fire and Mizuki had invoked a giant coiling serpent of water from the drains to put it out. Mizuki had been trying to help Nanami bake something to offer their guests, fresh out of the oven. Aoi Tsubaki loved food and cooking and trying new things — it had only made sense! Nanami bought little candied flowers to put on the cupcakes and everything. Pearly pink sprinkles, too. 

Those cupcakes had been doomed from the start, though, honestly: from Mizuki thinking mashed centipedes were a good substitute for berries — well, he _was_ a carnivorous snake, after all — to Tomoe being too busy fixing up the yard to notice when things started going off the rails... yeah. Yeah. May these particular cupcakes rest well in the afterlife.

“Better duck, Nanami!” Mizuki called, as soapy drain water wound into serpents up his arms. “I don’t wanna mess up your hair!”

Nanami’s carefully curled updo survived Mizuki’s firefighting efforts... the cupcakes and her school bag, though, not so much. When she turned around to notice Aoi, Ginji and the Master Innkeeper watching them fuss over the oven — (could water break ovens? _Tell me water can’t break ovens, Mizuki!_ ) — Ginji was stealthily trying to back away, like maybe they could pretend to arrive at a more convenient time and save everybody some embarrassment. He was pulling Aoi gently by the arm. Aoi with a spangly gift bag hung on her wrist; Aoi with a cute skirt on and her hair in a bun low against her neck. It was all so casual and mature — Nanami wondered if _she’d_ be able to pull a look like that off, if she gave it a try.

The Master Innkeeper’s shadow was a seeping, uncanny thing, shifting monstrously at his feet for the first long, humiliating moment Nanami noticed him. It looked untethered from his bemused smile; his power was a hungry, unknowable thing, wasn’t it? Ogre hunger, ogre strength. His eyes were just as unreadable as Aoi had told Nanami they would be, but his hair looked soft. Nanami could see why Aoi sometimes imagined what it would be like to reach out and grab those tiny horns of his. The first time Aoi described something like that, she said she’d imagined playing that _“Got your nose!”_ joke, but with one of the Master Innkeeper’s horns — pretending her thumb was the nose cupped in her hand. Or, the horn in this case. Nanami had snorted down at Aoi’s letter after reading that, and told Mizuki she was sure this Aoi Tsubaki could be interesting. 

Nanami’d had to show Mizuki the _“Got your nose!”_ game before he understood, mind you… and _that_ had led to Mizuki pretending to steal Tomoe’s nose, which was admittedly a little reckless… but even so. 

“Ah — hello,” said the Master Innkeeper, setting a pale hand on Ginji’s shoulder. Holding him in place. And here was proof of something else Aoi had told Nanami about — his claws _were_ short. He’d cut them so he would be allowed to help Aoi cook, although of course ogres prided themselves on their too-sharp claws. “Apologies. Your Shrine Spirits let us in, but we can certainly show ourselves back to the entryway if you’d prefer. As you like, Land God Nanami Momozono.”

The Master Innkeeper’s voice was like dark syrup — a little too smooth, a little too sweet. Nanami wasn’t sure how she felt about the way he said her name. Was he appraising her to see if she’d be a fitting friend for his Ogre Bride? There _was_ a certain protective air about him, easing his way between her and Aoi, now. It was a little like the way Mizuki was standing between Aoi Tsubaki — a ridiculously amazing cook, from everything Nanami had heard, like almost impossibly good — and their sad attempt at making cupcakes. A little like the way Tomoe stood between Nanami and danger time and time again, too, sliding to her side all velvety and teasing. A fan hanging loose in his hand, brushing softly against his cheek. Blue Kitsune fire casting eerie shadows all around —

Ahem. 

When Nanami said, “No —! No, you can stay: we’ve just had a few technical difficulties...!” the Master Innkeeper looked over to Aoi to see what _she_ thought about all this. Nanami bowed deeply, babbling only a little bit, and promised that it was wonderful to meet everybody. The Master Innkeeper nodded at her, once he heard Aoi say “That’s okay, _of course_ that’s okay!” and Ginji, for his part, waved to Mizuki. 

“I’d be lying if I said I never accidentally mangled any of Aoi’s recipes,” Ginji laughed, silvery fox ear twitching sheepishly, and Aoi rubbed his arm a little. Nanami thought she could tell the Master Innkeeper looked away, then. Closed his eyes, without changing the rest of his expression at all. It was kinda like one of Tomoe’s sulking faces, if Nanami thought about it. Like when he wanted to be included in a trip to buy new summer dresses with her but didn’t know how to ask. 

“Ginji’s a good friend — maybe you remember from my letters,” Aoi said, hurrying over to hold Nanami’s hands in both of hers, even if she _did_ almost slip in one of the puddles on the floor. She squeezed Nanami’s hands like she was trying to show her just how okay everything was. How there really, truly wasn’t anything to worry about. “It’s wonderful to actually meet you, Nanami. And Mizuki! Your goddess is right, that water snake trick is really impressive.” 

Mizuki beamed at Nanami, then, poison-green eyes so warm and proud Nanami almost couldn’t remember how exhausted they’d seemed when she first met him. Tending to his dead goddess’s shrine under a lake, all by himself for decades, growing colder every year. Mizuki was a different person, now, and he had absolutely trusted that Nanami wrote letters praising him to her new friend. She’d read the first few letters she sent aloud to Mizuki before sealing them up, actually. Just so he could assure her she didn’t sound like a jerk. The Snake Shinshi Seal of approval, or something like that. 

“You know... Nanami and I _did_ want to bake something for you, but the humans in this area have pretty interesting shops!” Mizuki said. “Tomoe and I can run out and buy something nice for everyone. How’s that? Any requests?”

Nanami didn’t think she needed to tell Mizuki “No Centipedes” two times in the same day, but she did give him a very particular “No Centipedes” kind of look. He nodded back all knowingly, but there were dozens of things an expression like that could mean, from Mizuki. Buying their guests some treats in town was a good idea, though, even if it _was_ a lot like Mizuki to volunteer Tomoe for a job he probably wouldn’t want to do. Tomoe would want to figure out the flooded kitchen debacle, likely as not; Tomoe would want to get a read on Nanami’s new friend, so he could be in the know. So he could protect her. Aoi snickered and met Nanami’s eyes: she remembered Tomoe and Mizuki’s relationship from their letters, too. 

Dang, Nanami really hoped the oven wasn’t actually broken. She and Aoi had been planning to make breakfast together in the morning!


End file.
